spacetoday.net: News briefs: September 26

Posted: Wed, Sep 26, 2001, 6:19 PM ET (2219 GMT)
XM Satellite Radio started a "soft" rollout of its satellite radio service on Tuesday, two weeks later than previously planned. XM is now offering service in Dallas and San Diego, and plans to roll out the service nationwide by November. The company had planned to start service two weeks ago, but delayed the rollout in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York and Washington. The company has also put on hold an advertising campaign... Orbimage, a commercial imaging spinoff of Orbital Sciences Corporation, announced late Tuesday it will file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection as part of a restructuring effort. Orbital will provide several million dollars in funding and credit lines to aid in the restructuring. Company officials did not say if the announcement was related to the loss of Orbimage's OrbView 4 spacecraft, one of the payloads on the Taurus rocket that failed to reach orbit September 21... The Planetary Society announced Tuesday it has named a new president and vice president. Wes Huntress, Director of the Geophysical Laboratory of the Carnegie Institute of Washington and a former NASA associate administrator, will be the society's new president, and Neil de Grasse Tyson, director of New York City's Hayden Planetarium, will serve as vice president. Former JPL director Bruce Murray, a co-founder of the Pasadena-based space advocacy organization who had been serving as president, will now serve as chairman of the society's board of directors.